Author: Montage Africa
By Al Jazeera Hopes for peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have suffered another setback after former President Joseph Kabila joined a new political-military coalition challenging President Felix Tshisekedi. Announced in Goma on Monday evening, the Front pour la Refondation de la Nation (FRN), or Front for the Refoundation of the Nation, is led by Kabila and replaces the existing alliance between the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) and the March 23 Movement (M23). The new coalition brings together figures and forces associated with the two movements, accuses Tshisekedi of tyranny and calls for resistance by all means,…
By Fatima Edam Hasanat al-Rashid, 48, has lived with diabetes for 15 years, and the three-and-a-half-year civil war between Sudan’s military and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group has worsened her situation. Finding the treatment she needs has become a daily struggle. When the war broke out in April 2023, she was forced to flee south from her home in Haj Yousif in Khartoum North to Umm Daw Ban in Khartoum State. end of list During her displacement, she went for days without medication and was forced to eat foods unsuitable for her condition, such as asida, a traditional Sudanese…
By Al Jazeera and AFP Mali’s military and its Russian paramilitary allies have killed civilians in breach of international law, and opposition armed groups have done likewise, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says. Soldiers and fighters “are committing grave laws-of-war violations while international organisations and governments largely stand by”, the United States-based rights watchdog said in a report released on Monday. end of listIt urged the African Union’s Peace and Security Council to “urgently take action to prevent further atrocities” in Mali. The West African country has been mired in fighting and attacks since 2012 as the military and its allies…
Khanyisile Ngcobo A pastor and his wife have been arrested in South Africa after 200 people, some in chains, were found held at a suspected illegal rehabilitation centre in the north-eastern part of the country. The facility, operated from a church in Mpumalanga province, was discovered during an operation by officials in the area on Thursday. Authorities said they uncovered “gross inhumane conditions” when they raided the facility, with some patients found with “sores all over their bodies” and “others chained to each other”. Police have since charged the couple, who were running the facility, with kidnapping but could add…
By AFP The Nigerian Army Chief of Staff visited troops stationed in the northeast of the country on Saturday, a few days after jihadists killed fifteen soldiers in the region. Suspected Islamic State-aligned fighters killed 15 troops and five anti-jihadist militia members when they attacked and burnt down a military base in northeastern Nigeria’s Borno state, according to defence and local sources. Borno is the epicentre of more than 17 years of jihadist insurgency by Boko Haram — and later its splinter group Islamic State in West African Province (ISWAP) — which has killed thousands and displaced millions across northeast…
By Afolake Oyinloye According to the International Monetary Fund’s latest World Economic Outlook published Tuesday, global growth stands at 3.1 percent, while global inflation has spiked to 4.7 percent. An AI boom is lifting technology-exporting economies, but developing and climate-vulnerable regions face a double hit from rising energy costs and climate disasters. With over 60 percent of low-income nations in or near debt distress, leaders argue the path forward requires a clear two-part strategy: implementing fiscal consolidation to service high debt and protect social safety nets, while investing aggressively in digital connectivity to join the tech recovery. At the World…
By Rodrigue Ngassi and Joel Kouam Cameroon’s main opposition MRC elected a new party president on Saturday, Tiriane Balbine Noah. She replaces Maurice Kamto and becomes the first woman to lead the party. Cameroon’s main opposition MRC held its extraordinary elective congress on Saturday, despite intense pressure was put on authorities to ban the meeting. Supporters gathered at the party headquarters in Yaoundé to elect their new leader and denounce the restrictions they say they face. “Unfortunately, in Cameroon, things are done in such a way that everything becomes extraordinary,” Joseph Emmanuel Ateba, National Secretary in Charge of Party Reform,…
By AP As Ebola continues to devastate eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, health workers are warning of a less visible crisis: the psychological toll on patients, survivors and families left behind. At a mental health treatment centre in Bunia, one woman is receiving support after losing two close relatives and three members of her extended family to the disease. She says fear and stigma have left her feeling isolated. Mental health patient, lost relatives to Ebola: “We were afraid, but we went to the hospital. Everyone at home was afraid. The neighbours are afraid to come near us. It is…
A Kenyan court is set to deliver a judgement in a mass murder case involving doomsday preacher Paul Mackenzie. Mackenzie and 29 of his followers are being charged with the murder of 191 children. His cult is alleged to have forced children to starve to death so that they could “meet Jesus”. His doomsday doctrine said that education was forbidden and modern medicine was considered “evil”. Mackenzie and the 29 others have all pleaded not guilty to murder, repeatedly insisting that nobody was forced to die. Mackenzie’s former head of security, Enos Amanya Ngala, was initially accused but then entered…
By MONIKA PRONCZUK With its torrential rains, tropical forests and omnipresent humidity, Equatorial Guinea provides the perfect conditions for mosquitoes to breed. For centuries, mosquito-borne diseases, in particular malaria, have dictated the fate of residents of this central African nation, impacting how they lived, worked and died. But Bioko island, off mainland Equatorial Guinea, has managed to sharply reduce malaria infections and deaths. Bioko, roughly half the size of Rhode Island, has used familiar tools: indoor spraying, mosquito nets and keeping control of the larvae population. Its success, however, has depended on something less easily replicated: two decades of painstaking…